# - Wallace, Edgar.

"The Squeaker", incomplete draft autograph manuscript with revisions, Acts 2-4 only of Wallace's play about a reporter investigating the mysterious Leopard Club, 61 pages, [1930]; "Smoky Cell" draft autograph manuscript of Wallace's gangster melodrama with deletions and revisions, in blue and black ink with some portions typed, incomplete, 56 pages, [1929]; "The Green Pack", autograph manuscript of part of Act 2 (9 pages), carbon-copy typescript of an early draft of the whole play (note on covers "Original Version") with pencil deletions and revisions, and typescript prompt copy of the play with theatrical revisions and notes, 226 pages in total, 1932; "On The Spot" typescript in landscape format, prompt copy with theatrical revisions and notes in pencil throughout, inscribed in ink on title-page ("The Property of Mrs Edgar Wallace | Wyndhams theatre..."), 197 pages, [1930]; "The Calendar", typescript prompt copy with theatrical revisions and notes in pencil, with additional pages of dialogue in typescript and manuscript, note on cover ("Lyceum Version"), 154 pages; "Three Kings and a Bull", typescript of three-act play on a Ruritarian theme with scattered autograph revisions, 66 pages; "The African Millionaire", typescript, 101 pages, typist's stamp, 1934; "The Tremendous Jones", carbon copy typescript, 100 pages; "The Shadow", a play by Wallace and Guy Bolton, 112 pages, typist's stamp, 1933; "His Eminence Gives Audience", typescript of a play adapted by Wallace from the German original by Curt Goetz, 109 pages; "The Sweitzer Pump", typescript, 75 pages; a group of 10 later typescripts including stage adaptations of works by Wallace, by Donald Stuart, Ian Hay, and others, 1930s-80s; some items in ribbon ties, others loose in folders; nicks and tears, some staining and soiling (21)

an important collection of wallace's work for the london stage, much of which remains unpublished. These plays range in subject from a colonial adventurer closely modelled on Cecil Rhodes ("The African Millionaire") to American gangsters ("Smoky Cell"). Many were first produced by Sir Gerald du Maurier at Wyndham's Theatre. They include some of Wallace's finest work including "On The Spot", originally produced with Charles Laughton in the central role, which has been described as "Wallace's best play, and perhaps the finest melodrama of our time" (Margaret Lane, Edgar Wallace: A Biography, p.342), and "The Squeaker", which first starred Robert Loraine as the reporter Colley. The collection also includes a significant group relating to "The Green Pack", one of Wallace's final works, which opened just days before Wallace's death.